SOME GRAMMATICAL AND RHETORICAL FIGURES

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Anacolūthon (ἀνακόλουθον inconsequent), or grammatical inconsistency, is inadvertent or purposed deviation in the structure of a sentence by which a construction started at the beginning is not followed out consistently. Anacoluthon is sometimes real, sometimes only slight or apparent. It is natural to Greek by reason of the mobility and elasticity of that language; but in English it could not be tolerated to an equal extent because our tongue—a speech of few inflected forms—is much more rigid than Greek.

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Anacoluthon is, in general, caused either (a) by the choice of some form of expression more convenient or more effective than that for which the sentence was grammatically planned; at times, too, the disturbing influence is the insertion of a brief expression of an additional thought not foreseen at the start. Or (b) by the intrusion of some explanation requiring a parenthesis of such an extent that the connection is obscured or the continuation of the original structure made difficult. In this case the beginning may be repeated, or what has already been said may be summed up in a different grammatical form and sometimes with the addition of a resumptive particle, such as δή, οὖν well then, then, as I was saying (X. A. 1.8.13, 3. 1. 20, X. C. 3.3.9). So with δέ (T. 8.29. 2).

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Anacoluthon usually produces the effect of naturalness and liveliness, sometimes of greater clearness (as after long parentheses), or of brevity, force, or concentration.

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Anacoluthon is either natural or artificial. Natural anacoluthon is seen in the loose and discursive style of Herodotus; in the closely packed sentences of Thucydides, who hurries from one thought to another with the least expenditure of words; and in the slovenliness of Andocides. Artificial or rhetorical anacoluthon is the result of a deliberate purpose to give to written language the vividness, naturalness, and unaffected freedom of the easy flow of conversation, and is best seen in the dialogues of Plato. Such anacoluthon is usually graceful and free from obscurity.

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There are very many forms of anacoluthon, e.g.

a. Many cases are due to the fact that a writer conforms his construction, not to the words which he has just used, but to another way in which the antecedent thought might have been expressed: the construction πρὸς τὸ νοούμενον (or σημαινόμενον) according to what is thought. Cp. 2148 and X. H. 2.2.3, S. O. T. 353, E. Hec. 970.

b. Some cases are due to changes in the subject, as T. 1.18. 2.

c. Many cases occur in connection with the use of a participle (2147, 2148).

d. Coördinate clauses connected by τὲ . . . καί, καὶ . . . καί, οὔτε . . . οὔτε, ἢ . . . ἤ often show anacoluthon, especially when a finite verb takes the place of a participle. Cp. 2147 c, and T. 5.61. 4, 6. 32. 3, 7. 47. 1-2.

e. The nominative “in suspense” may stand at the head of a sentence instead of another case required by the following construction. This involves a redundant pronoun. Thus, Πρόξενος δὲ καὶ Μένων, ἐπείπερ εἰσὶν ὑ̄μέτεροι εὐεργέται . . . πέμψατε αὐτοὺς δεῦρο (for Πρόξενον καὶ Μένωνα . . . πέμψατε δεῦρο) X. A. 2.5.41. Cp. “The prince that feeds great natures, they will slay him:” Ben Jonson.

f. The accusative often stands absolutely when at the head of a sentence. Thus, ἀλλὰ μὴν καὶ τῑμά̄ς γε . . ., τῶν μὲν μεθέξει καὶ γεύσεται ἑκών, ᾱ<*>`ς ἂν ἡγῆται ἀμείνω αὑτὸν ποιήσειν, ἃ̄ς δ᾽ . . . φεύξεται but furthermore as regards honours, those he will partake of and be glad to taste which he thinks will make him a better man, but others he will shun P. R. 591e, Ἕλληνας τοὺς ἐν τῇ Ἀσίᾳ οἰκοῦντας οὐδέν πω σαφὲς λέγεται εἰ ἕπονται (for λέγουσιν εἰ ἕπονται or λέγεται ἕπεσθαι) as to the Greeks who dwell in Asia there is as yet no certain intelligence whether they are to accompany the expedition X. C. 2.1.5.

g. A main clause may take the construction of a parenthetical clause (T. 4.93. 2). Here belongs the attraction into the relative clause of a verb that should have been principal. So after ὡς ἤκουσα, ὡς οἶμαι, ὡς λέγουσι, etc. Thus, τόδε γε μήν, ὡς οἶμαι, περὶ αὐτοῦ ἀναγκαιότατον εἶναι (for ἐστὶ) λέγειν this indeed is, as I think, most necessary to state about it P. Phil. 20d. Often in Hdt., as ὡς δ᾽ ἐγὼ ἤκουσα . . . εἶναι αὐτὸν Ἰδανθύρσου . . . πάτρων but as I have heard he was the uncle of Idanthyrsus on the father's side 4. 76. A construction may be introduced by ὅτι or ὡς and then pass to the infinitive, or the infinitive may precede and a finite verb follow (2628).

h. After a subordinate clause with parentheses the main clause sometimes follows in the form of an independent sentence (P. A. 28c, cp. 36 a).

i. An infinitive may resume the idea set forth by the principal verb; as τοῦ δὲ θεοῦ τάττοντος, ὡς ἐγὼ ᾠήθην τε καὶ ὑπέλαβον, φιλοσοφοῦντά με δεῖν ζῆν κτλ. whereas when God orders me, as I think and believe, to pass my life in the pursuit of wisdom, etc. P. A. 28e. Cp. X. H. 7.4.35.

j. Anacoluthon is sometimes due to the desire to maintain similarity of form between contrasted expressions; as

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Anadiplōsis (ἀναδίπλωσις doubling) is the rhetorical repetition of one or several words. Cp. “The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece, where burning Sappho loved and sung:” Byron.

Θῆβαι δέ, Θῆβαι πόλις ἀστυγείτων, μεθ᾽ ἡμέρᾱν μίαν ἐκ μέσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος ἀνήρπασται Thebes, Thebes, a neighbouring city, in the course of one day has been extirpated from the midst of Greece Aes. 3.133.

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Anaphora (ἀναφορά̄ carrying back) is the repetition, with emphasis, of the same word or phrase at the beginning of several successive clauses. This figure is also called epanaphora or epanalepsis. Cp. “Strike as I would Have struck those tyrants! Strike deep as my curse! Strike! and but once:” Byron.

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Anastrophe (ἀναστροφή return) is the use, at the beginning of one clause, of the same word that concluded the preceding clause. Also called epanastrophe. Cp. “Has he a gust for blood? Blood shall fill his cup.”

οὐ δήπου Κτησιφῶντα δύναται διώκειν δι᾽ ἐμέ, ἐμὲ δ᾽ εἴπερ ἐξελέγξειν ἐνόμιζεν, αὐτὸν οὐκ ἂν ἐγράψατο for surely it cannot be that he is prosecuting Ctesiphon on my account, and yet would not have indicted me myself, if he had thought that he could convict me D. 18.13.

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Antistrophe (ἀντιστροφή turning about) is the repetition of the same word or phrase at the end of successive clauses.

ὅστις δ᾽ ἐν τῷ πρώτῳ λόγῳ τὴν ψῆφον αἰτεῖ ὅρκον αἰτεῖ, νόμον αἰτεῖ, δημοκρατίᾱν αἰτεῖ whoever in his first speech asks for your vote as a favour, asks the surrender of your oath, asks the surrender of the law, asks the surrender of the democratic constitution Aes. 3.198.

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Antithesis (ἀντίθεσις opposition) is the contrast of ideas expressed by words which are the opposite of, or are closely contrasted with, each other. Cp. “Wit is negative, analytical, destructive; Humor is creative:” Whipple.

δι᾽ ὧν ἐκ χρηστῶν φαῦλα τὰ πρά̄γματα τῆς πόλεως γέγονε, διὰ τούτων ἐλπίζετε τῶν αὐτῶν πρά̄ξεων ἐκ φαύλων αὐτὰ χρηστὰ γενήσεσθαι; do you expect that the affairs of state will become prosperous instead of bad by the same measures by which they have become bad instead of prosperous? D. 2.26.

a. Antithesis is sometimes extended to a parallelism in sense effected (1) by the use of two words of opposite meaning in the expression of one idea, (2) by the opposition of ideas which are not specifically contrasted in words.

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Aporia (ἀπορίᾱ doubt) is an artifice by which a speaker feigns doubt as to where he shall begin or end or what he shall do or say, etc. Cp. “Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do?” St. Luke 16. 3.

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Aposiopēsis (ἀποσιώπησις becoming silent) is a form of ellipse by which, under the influence of passionate feeling or of modesty, a speaker comes to an abrupt halt. Examples 2352 d, D. 18.3, 22, 195, S. O. T. 1289, Ar. Vesp. 1178. Cp. “Massachusetts and her people . . . hold him, and his love . . . and his principles, and his standard of truth in utter—what shall I say? —anything but respect:” Webster.

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Asyndeton (ἀσύνδετον not bound together) is the absence of conjunctions in a series of coördinate words or phrases. See 2165 ff.

a. Here is sometimes placed the omission of the verb after μή (μὴ σύ γε, μὴ γάρ, etc.); as μὴ τριβὰ̄ς ἔτι (ποιεῖσθε) no more delays! S. Ant. 577, τι´ς οὐχὶ κατέπτυσεν ἂν σοῦ; μὴ γὰρ (εἰπὲ) τῆς πόλεως γε, μηδ᾽ ἐμοῦ who would not have reviled you? Do not say the State, nor me D. 18.200. Cp. 946, 1599.

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Brachylogy (βραχυλογίᾱ brevity of diction, abbreviated expres. sion or construction) is a concise form of expression by which an element is not repeated or is omitted when its repetition or use would make the thought or the grammatical construction complete. The suppressed element must be supplied from some corresponding word in the context, in which case it often appears with some change of form or construction; or it must be taken from the connection of the thought.

a. Brachylogy and ellipse cannot always be distinguished sharply. In ellipse the suppressed word is not to be supplied from a corresponding word in the context; and, in general, ellipse is less artificial and less dependent on the momentary and arbitrary will of the speaker or writer. Compendious Comparison (1501), Praegnans Constructio (3044), and Zeugma (3048) are forms of brachylogy.

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There are many forms of brachylogy; for example:

a. One verbal form must often be supplied from another; e.g. a passive from an active, an infinitive from a finite verb, a participle from an infinitive. Thus, τὴν τῶν πέλας δῃοῦν μᾶλλον ἢ τὴν ἑαυτῶν ὁρᾶν (δῃουμένην) rather to ravage the territory of their neighbours than to see their own (being ravaged) T. 2.11, ταῦτα ἐγώ σοι οὐ πείθομαι . . ., οἶμαι δὲ οὐδὲ ἄλλον ἀνθρώπων οὐδένα (πείθεσθαί σοι) of this I am not persuaded by you and I do not believe that any other human being is either P. A. 25e, οὔτε πάσχοντες κακὸν οὐδὲν οὔτε μέλλοντες (πάσχειν) neither suffering, nor being likely (to suffer), any evil I. 12.103, ἀνεχώρησαν δὲ καὶ οἱ Αθηναῖοι . . . , ἐπειδὴ καὶ ἐκείνους εἶδον (ἀναχωρήσαντας) and the Athenians too withdrew when they saw that they (the Lacedaemonians) had done so T. 3.16.

b. A verb must often be supplied from a coördinate or subordinate clause either preceding or following. Thus, ἔγειρε καὶ σὺ τήνδ᾽, ἐγὼ δὲ σέ do you wake her, as I (wake) you A. Eum. 140, ἐὰ̄ν δὲ αὐτόχειρ μὲν μή (ᾖ),

c. In clauses with δεῖ, χρή etc.: ἵνα φαίνησθε ἀμύ̄νοντες οἷς δεῖ (ἀμύ̄νειν) that you may seem to assist those you ought (to assist) T. 3.13. When a form of τυγχάνω stands in the subordinate clause; ἀπέπλευσαν ὡς ἕκαστοι ἔτυχον (ἀποπλέοντες) they sailed away as each best could T. 4.25. In conditional clauses when the protasis indicates that the assertion made in the apodosis holds true of a person or a thing more than of any other person or thing (εἴπερ τις καὶ ἄλλος, εἴπερ που, εἴπερ ποτέ, ὥς τις καὶ ἄλλος, etc.); as συμφέρει δ᾽ ὑ̄μῖν, εἴπερ τῳ καὶ ἄλλῳ, τὸ νῑκᾶν victory is of advantage to you, if it (is of advantage) to any X. C. 3.3.42. Hence εἴ τις (που, ποθεν) is almost = τὶς, etc. (T. 7.21. 5).

d. Compound verbs (especially those compounded with μετά and ἐξ) are often so used that the force both of the compound and of the simple verb is requisite to the meaning. Thus, (οἱ *᾿αθηναῖοι) μετέγνωσαν Κερκῡραίοις ξυμμαχίᾱν μὴ ποιήσασθαι the Athenians changed their minds and decided not to make an alliance with the Corcyraeans T. 1.44.

e. A compound verb on its second occurrence often omits the preposition (rarely vice versa); as ἀπεργάζηται . . . εἰργάζετο P. Ph. 104d. Euripides is fond of such collocations as ὑπάκουσον ἄκουσον Alc. 400. Cp. the difference in metrical value of repeated words in Shakespeare, as “These víolént desires have víolent ends.”

N.—In καὶ ξυμμετίσχω καὶ φέρω τῆς αἰτίᾱς I share and bear alike the guilt (S. Ant. 537) φέρω, though capable of taking the partitive genitive, is influenced by ξυμμετίσχω and has the force of ξυμφέρω.

f. From a following verb of special meaning a verb of more general meaning, such as ποιεῖν, γίγνεσθαι, εἶναι, must be supplied with the phrases οὐδὲν ἄλλο ἤ, ἄλλο τι ἤ, τί ἄλλο ἤ. Examples in 946, 2652, 2778.

g. A verb of saying or thinking must often be supplied from a foregoing verb of exhorting, commanding, announcing, or from any other verb that implies saying or thinking. Thus, Κριτόβουλος καὶ Ἀπολλόδωρος κελεύουσί με τριά̄κοντα μνῶν τῑμήσασθαι, αὐτοὶ δὲ ἐγγυᾶσθαι Critobulus and Apollodorus urge me to set a penalty of thirty minae, and (say) that they themselves are sureties P. A. 38b.

h. When two verbs taking the same or different cases have an object in common, that object is expressed only once, and usually is dependent on the nearer verb. See 1634, 1635.

i. A substantive or a verb is often to be supplied from a substantive or a verb related in meaning: ναυμαχήσαντας μίαν (ναυμαχίᾱν) having fought one (sea-fight) Ar. Ran. 693, ἡ μὲν ἔπειτα εἰς ἅλα ἆλτο . . ., Ζεὺς δὲ ἑὸν πρὸς δῶμα (ἔβη) she then sprang into the sea, but Zeus (went) to his abode A 532.

j. The subject of a sentence is often taken from a preceding object or from some other preceding noun in an oblique case without a pronoun of reference to aid the transition. Thus, ἐξεφόβησαν μὲν τοὺς πολλοὺς οὐκ εἰδότας τὰ πρᾱσσόμενα, καὶ ἔφευγον (οἱ πολλοί) they frightened away most of the citizens, who were in ignorance of the plot and began to fly T. 8.44. Cp. 943.

k. In general an object is frequently omitted when it can readily be supplied from the context. Thus, ἐγχεῖν (τὸν οἶνον) ἐκέλενε he gave orders to pour in (the wine) X. A. 4.3.13. An unemphatic pronoun in an oblique case is often omitted when it can be supplied from a preceding noun. Cp. 1214.

l. A dependent noun must often be supplied, in a different construction, from one coördinate clause to another. Thus, ὅρκους ἔλαβον καὶ ἔδοσαν παρὰ Φαρναβάζου they received oaths from Pharnabazus and gave him theirs X. H. 1.3.9. So in contrasts where one member is to be supplied from the other, as οὐκ ἐκεῖνος (ἐκείνην), ἀλλ᾽ ἐκείνη κεῖνον ἐνθάδ᾽ ἤγαγεν he did not bring (her) here, but she brought him E. Or. 742.

m. From a preceding word its opposite must often be supplied, especially an affirmative after a negative. Thus, ἀμελήσᾱς ὧνπερ οἱ πολλοὶ (ἐπιμελοῦνται) neglecting the very things which most people (care for) P. A. 36b. This laxity of expression is especially frequent in the case of ἕκαστος, τὶς, or πάντες, to be supplied after οὐδείς (μηδείς), as μηδεὶς τὴν ὑπερβολὴν θαυμάσῃ, ἀλλὰ μετ᾽ εὐνοίᾱς δ̀ λέγω θεωρησάτω let no one wonder at the extravagance of my statement, but let (every one) consider kindly what I say D. 18.199. Cp. “No person held to service or labor in one state . . ., escaping into another, shall . . . be discharged from said service or labor, but shall be delivered up, etc.”: U. S. Constitution.

n. The same word though placed only once may stand in two different constructions; as αἰνέω δὲ καὶ τόνδε (νόμον) . . . μήτε τῶν ἄλλων Περσέων μηδένα τῶν

o. An assertion may be made concerning an action or a thing when the absence of that action or thing is meant (res pro rei defectu). Thus, εἴ τ᾽ ἄρ᾽ ὁγ᾽ εὐχωλῆς ἐπιμέμφεται whether then he blames us on account of an (unfulfilled) vow A 65, ἐν ᾗ καὶ περὶ χρημάτων καὶ περὶ ἀτῑμίᾱς ἄνθρωποι κινδῡνεύουσιν on which charge men run the risk both of (loss of) money and civil degradation D. 29.16. So δύναμις powerlessness, φυλακή neglect of the watch, μελέτημα lack of liberal exercise.

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Catachrēsis (κατάχρησις misuse of a word) is the extension of the meaning of a word beyond its proper sphere; especially a violent metaphor. In English: “a palatable tone,” “to take arms against a sea of troubles.”

δαιμόνιος extraordinary, θαυμάσιος decided, strange, capital, ἀμηχάνως and ὑπερφυῶς decidedly, ὑποπτεύω expect, ναυστολεῖν χθόνα E. Med. 682. Such usages are less often occasioned by the poverty of the language than by the caprice of the writer.

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